A former high school swim coach in Wisconsin says he was fired for his political beliefs after he posted to Facebook comparing Black Lives Matter to the Ku Klux Klan.
Tim Damico was a former assistant coach for Germantown High School in Eastern Wisconsin. Damico reached out to a local conservative radio host to claim that he’d been fired for his political beliefs.
“On Thursday July 9th I shared a post to my Facebook page comparing the KKK to the BLM organization,” Damico wrote. “Not the statement ‘Black Lives Matter’ because of course I agree with the statement, but the political organization is not something that I as a conservative can or will ever support.”
The Ku Klux Klan is an American hate group that formed at the end of the Civil War to intimidate Black people and to prevent them from enjoying basic civil rights, according to The Southern Poverty Law Center. The KKK had several more revivals throughout American history – in 1920, a resurgent Klan movement opposed Catholic and Jewish immigration, and in the 1960s, the Klan rose again to prominence to oppose the civil rights movement.
Black Lives Matter has become both a rallying slogan and a global organization formed in response to unarmed Black men killed by police or by local vigilantes. The organization itself formed in 2013 after a Black 17-year-old named Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a member of a neighborhood watch. The man, George Zimmerman, was charged with but acquitted of second degree murder and manslaughter.
Damico says his Facebook post was sent to school board members, and the athletic director contacted him to let him know the school would not be renewing his coaching contract.
“I came to the conclusion that I am being fired, not for my inability to be a great coach, but because my political stance doesn’t fit with the prevailing narrative,” Damico wrote. “I’m a conservative gun owner who supports President Trump and I will never stop supporting what I believe just to save my job.”
Damico says the athletic director also referenced other posts Damico had shared or posted on Facebook referencing “rioting and looting, most having firearm references.”
School board president Bob Soderberg responded via his own Facebook post, saying Damico “has not told the truth, and certainly not the whole truth about this situation.”
“The posting shockingly states ‘#BLM is a cult and no different than the #KKK’,” Soderberg writes. “Mr. Damico also posted a statement that ‘black lives matter is a joke.’ Again, there’s nothing here distinguishing between supporting the statement (which Mr. Damico claims to support) and the organization (which Mr. Damico opposes) so, once again, Mr. Damico gives the reader no reason to believe that he is making any such distinction.”
In a story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, District superintendent Brett Stousland said that coaches are at-will employees and not guaranteed a new contract each season.
“As a district, we have a duty to our students, our staff and our community to make certain that our sports programs and activities are not disrupted, and that our personnel don’t actively discourage the student body for going out for sports,” Stousland told the Journal Sentinel. “We felt that his behavior would cause such a substantial disruption within our swimming program that would seriously damage student participation.”
Tim,
You are a great coach. My kids are better swimmers because of your dedication and enthusiasm. However, my guess is that your contract was not renewed for offensively exaggerating a position and refusing to reconsider it. The first amendment allows you to write “#BLM is a cult and no different than the #KKK”. However, one organization was founded with a mission for establishing racial equality through non-violence. The other was founded with a mission of maintaining racial supremacy through intimidation and violence.
BLM IS very different from the KKK. Incorrect information isn’t a political stance and standing your ground on this point doesn’t make you right. It only demonstrates an unwillingness to learn (and that really irks educators).… Read more »
And there is little violence in Germantown .Few shooting deaths & no neighbourhoods getting burnt down .
There are many people out there that act falsely angry, pretending that the USA as a nation, society, economy, and government never change and improve. Those same people, whomever they are, do not distinguish between might as opposed to individual right, power as opposed to authority, and orders as opposed to the rule of law (What is written and applies to us all). President Jackson violated the native Americans. President Wilson with his KKK violated black Americans. FDR violated Japanese Americans. Everyone should also know about “Wounded Knee”. Much has changed in the USA since then. However, even despite the abolition of slavery by Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and everyone who fought in the Civil War to do so more… Read more »
What the hell is happening in this comment section
I’ve lost so much respect for Braden and Jared for just letting this go on
I thought it was a dumbed comment, but Black Lives Matter is not my cup of Tea. A better criticism would have been that BLM has some Maoist that were responsible for pulling down statues not just of confederate solders but also abolitionist, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and so forth. My because criticism of BLM is they pushed defunding the police more than what most black people support. Now BLM has a lot of white kids from nicer genfried areas of big cities or suburbs that don’t have to face gang violence as much as blacks. One reason why BLM supports defunding the police at 50 percent.
As a minority in the sport this comment section disgusts me. This coaches firing shouldn’t even be a question. America is riddled with racism and if you don’t think so you need to take a step and look outside of your privileged life and try to imagine your life in the shoes of a person of color. There is no place in this sport for racist. People like HISWIMCOACH should never step foot on a pool deck ever again. I just don’t know how people could possibly think and be so closed minded and think it’s okay to be so dumb.
So no suspension for the coach? No diversity training for the coach? Why wasn’t the coach offered the opportunity to look outside of his privileged life and imagine his life in the shoes of a person of color to renew his contract? He is, after all, in an academic setting. Failure in a subject is not dealt with by expulsion. But that is the lesson being taught here.
THANK YOU. Tip for being a decent person: if you’re white, you don’t get to tell black people “saying BLM = KKK isn’t offensive”.
This guy seems wholly unrepentant, and would rather play the victim than reconsider his views.
Jesus. Reading this dumpster fire of comments reminds me why it’s so hard for us to get black people interested in swimming in the USA.
The USA has more black competitive swimmers then the Bahamas. Perhaps if the USA continues the prosper that will grow as a percentage of the population. Dumpster fire comments make no difference. A person choose if they want to overcome or not. Encouragement from family helps. It might be a cultural. Arthur Ashe was encourage to play tennis. Tiger Woods encourage to play golf. Michael Jordan was encourage to play basketball. What sports can people earn millions and billions of dollars in? That is where you will black Americans dominating in.
Of course the USA has more black swimmers than the Bahamas. The population is 350k! I appreciate your response and I get where you’re coming from. But if a sport has a known biased of being “white” or “racist”, and then you read these comments that are kinda reaffirming the stereotype, it’s gonna be hard to convince anyone of color to happily join
Maybe, just maybe, the Germantown High School in Eastern Wisconsin swim team is worried about a little diversity problem. Starting at the top:
District superintendent Brett Stousland – white
School board president Bob Soderberg – white
Lori Bruss Girls’ Head Swim Coach – white
Mary Woodson Girls’ Dive Coach – white
Meredith Berghauer Boys’ Head Swim Coach – white
Girls’ swim team – 35 white, 1 black, 1 latina? (via team photo that looks to include coach Damico)
Boys’ swim team – no team photo
Now don’t get me started on the boys’ basketball team.
Mrs. Sara Unertl Athletic Director – white
The KKK on SwSw LMAO. Something for everyone !